ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Organ. Psychol.
Sec. Employee Well-being and Health
Volume 3 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/forgp.2025.1578835
Emotional intelligence, transformational leadership and team satisfaction during the COVID-19 period in Belgium
Provisionally accepted
Sabrina Chevalier1,2*
Antoine Perot3Sophie Klenkenberg1Florence Dumoulin1Joséfine Declaye1
Samuel Stipulante1
Alexandre Ghuysen1,3
Méryl Paquay1,3- 1University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
- 2Clinique Notre-Dame De Grâce, Charleroi, Belgium
- 3University Hospital of Liège, Liège, Liège, Belgium
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IntroductionHealthcare crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic have intensified the need for effective leadership. While transformational leadership (TL) and emotional intelligence (EI) are known to support team resilience, little is known about how they interact in high-stress environments. Understanding this relationship is essential to improve leadership responses in future disruptions. This study explored the link between EI and TL during a crisis and examined how leadership profiles influenced team satisfaction with the interventions implemented.MethodsUsing a mixed-method, exploratory sequential design, the study included 209 participants (16 head nurses and 193 nursing staff) in Belgium. Interviews with head nurses identified key crisis interventions, which informed the development of a satisfaction questionnaire. In the quantitative phase, head nurses completed EI and TL assessments, while their teams rated satisfaction. Analyses were conducted using RCommander.ResultsEI and TL were positively associated. However, high TL scores did not consistently predict higher team satisfaction. Leaders with high EI more frequently used participatory strategies appreciated by staff, such as debriefings and team reflection tools.DiscussionIn crisis contexts, emotionally intelligent leaders appear better able to adapt their approach, combining structure and support. TL alone may not suffice to meet evolving team needs. These findings support targeted leadership development and call for further experimental studies to understand underlying mechanisms.
Keywords: Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Hospitals management, crisis management, organizational learning
Received: 18 Feb 2025; Accepted: 13 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chevalier, Perot, Klenkenberg, Dumoulin, Declaye, Stipulante, Ghuysen and Paquay. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sabrina Chevalier, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
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